State can do better redistricting

By Richard W. Cutler

Published on: 8/7/2010

Ruthless partisanship in Congress and state legislatures has led to deadlock and the public's growing distrust of Congress and government in general. Partisanship is both a major cause and, in turn, consequence of gerrymandering - the politically driven redrawing of congressional and state legislative district boundaries after each census. Redistricting was originally intended - the ideal - to reflect population changes every 10 years.

Instead - the ugly reality - redistricting has been done in Wisconsin and almost all other states by the very same legislators who benefit by drawing often bizarre boundaries to carve the state into reliably Democratic or Republican strongholds. The politicians pick the voters, not the other way around.

In the 2002 national election, only four challengers were able to defeat incumbent members of Congress, the lowest number in modern American history, according to political scientists Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann.

Gerrymandering has brought astonishingly bad results. Wisconsin's redistricting after the 2000 census converted two congressional districts - where each party had a fair chance - to one safe for the Republican Party (Paul Ryan of Janesville) and one for the Democratic Party (Tammy Baldwin of Madison). Redistricting since 1988 has steadily decreased competitive seats in the state Senate and Assembly to only about a dozen out of 132

In 2000, California's two dominant parties cooperatively redrew both state and federal legislative district boundaries to their mutual advantage. In the 2004 election, no office changed party, although 53 congressional, 20 state Senate and 80 state assembly seats were potentially at risk.

California voters rebelled in 2008, when 51% approved a complicated referendum to create a nonpartisan redistricting commission before the 2010 census. The referendum was proposed by Common Cause, a nonpartisan organization for "open and accountable government," and supported by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Iowa, before 1980, created a nonpartisan redistricting commission that has been hailed as a model for other states because it has worked. The commission was authorized to draft different options for redistricting with clear-cut power. The Legislature was restricted to voting only up or down on its choice among alternative plans. No amendments or changes were permitted. If the Legislature does not approve a commission option by a designated date, the Iowa Supreme Court takes over. That blocked stalling by the Legislature. It worked. Iowa's congressional districts have become famously competitive.

Wisconsin should abolish gerrymandering by creating a nonpartisan redistricting commission like Iowa's successful model. Wisconsin voters should vote this fall for candidates who support redistricting reform.

Richard W. Cutler of Mequon is a retired partner of the Quarles & Brady law firm in Milwaukee. He has held government posts at the national, state, regional, county and local levels and served on the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission for 24 years, appointed by four governors of both parties.